OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 9, 2020) – If Angelo State (Texas) is one of NCAA Division II's best baseball teams – and the general consensus across the nation is the Rams most certainly are – then Oklahoma Christian wouldn't seem to be far behind, based on Sunday's results.

Problem is for the Eagles, close losses still count as losses and they really could use a win right now. No. 11-ranked Angelo State took a pair of thrillers at Dobson Field, holding off OC 5-3 and 9-8 in a doubleheader delayed for two days due to soggy field conditions, the result of Wednesday's snowstorm that blanketed the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

Angelo State (5-0, 5-0 Lone Star Conference) took advantage of defensive miscues by OC (0-5, 0-5) to post a pair of unearned runs in each game, and the Rams answered with a two-run ninth inning after a grand slam by OC's Michael DiFiore tied the game at 7-7 in the eighth.

"We just can't get out of our own way," OC coach Lonny Cobble said. "That's the most disappointing thing. We had unearned runs in both games. You battle and you battle and you battle back and then you walk a leadoff (batter) in an inning. It's just frustrating as far as that goes. We're right there on the verge, the edge, of being competitive and winning games. We just have to find a way to win a game and not find a way to lose one."

OC ace Gabe Rodery (0-2) struck out nine in seven innings in the first game and allowed only two earned runs. The Rams broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of unearned runs in the fifth inning. They loaded the bases with no outs before Rodery fanned two batters. But one out away from escaping with no damage, an error and passed ball led to the two runs.

The Eagles had chances but struggled to come up with timely hits, stranding 11 baserunners, including two each in the fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings. Blake Empkey went 3 for 5 at the plate for OC, but no one else had more than one hit.

Starter Trent Baker (2-0) pitched five innings to record the win for the Rams – allowing only Grant Lake's fourth-inning solo home run – with Jesse Meyer throwing the final 2 1/3 innings for his first save.

Angelo State built a commanding 7-0 lead in the second game before a late OC rally. The Rams seemed on cruise control after scoring three runs in the top of the seventh inning, but Jordan Kennedy's two-run double keyed a three-run outburst for the Eagles in the bottom of the inning.

Then, in the eighth, the Eagles loaded the bases against three Angelo State pitchers before DiFiore came up as a pinch-hitter and sent a towering shot over the right-center field fence to tie the game.

But Angelo State responded with two runs in the ninth, as Nicholas Novak and Riley Peterson each had an RBI single. OC rallied again in the bottom of the ninth, with Kevin Collyar's single to center field scoring Lake and sending Blake Empkey to second base, but Jake Rogers (1-0) – the Rams' sixth pitcher of the game – coaxed a fly ball from Tanner White to end the game.

Collyar finished 3 for 4 in the game. OC reliever Cody Johnson (0-1) took the loss.

"We're going to figure it out," Cobble said. "We're young. We're making some young mistakes and we're going to get this thing turned around eventually."

The teams will finish their series with a single game on Monday at 1 p.m.